Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Georgia Prisoners Stage The December 9 Strike!

I received a tip to one of the stories I'm working on for the Final Call Newspaper by Elaine Brown, former chairman of the Black Panther Party. She told me that thousands of prisoners across the state of Georgia are set to cause a work stoppage Thursday by staying in their cells for what they are calling a peaceful, one-day protest for their human rights.

According to Elaine, the inmates' action, aka the December 9 Strike, will include men from Baldwin, Hancock, Hays, Macon, Smith, and Telfair State Prisons, and that they are targeting the Georgia Department of Corrections because it treats them like slaves.

Some of their demands are living wages for work, educational opportunities beyond a GED (equivalent of a high school diploma), and decent health care.

She added, "The prisoner leaders issued the following call: 'No more slavery. Injustice in one place is injustice to all ... Lock down for liberty!"

When she was talking, Michael Jackson's song below came to mind; but look for more on what happened during the strike, the Geogia DOC's response, and the outcome of their action in the Final Call soon!

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Sis. Charlene @ KJLH Radio

As former producer of the Front Page, I got a daily, ring side seat to news and analysis from some of the most hard-hitting scholars our communities have produced, many you're already familiar with. The show features daily listener comments and questions and on Mondays, I produced the Next Page, a mini-feature on issues impacting our people, but that were buried in the news. .